My first encounter with Acorn Woodpeckers was in the Chiracahua Mts. in SE
Arizona. I arrived there at a camp site and promptly put up a hummer feeder
to attract the local specialty hummingbirds. My first bird was of course,
an Acorn Woodpecker. There social nature and raucous laughing calls leave a
wonderful impression.

American Avocets I first encountered in a seasonal very alkaline lake
outside Alamagordo, NM near White Sands. The birds would fly in with their
whistling calls and sweet those delicately curved bills through the less
than appetizing looking saline water. I remember them being so striking and
unique shorebirds in such an inhospitable place.

Jeff Kozma
Yakima